Nick Holmes, the stalwart gothic metal pioneer is a right ‘gobby’ bloke (for someone who's boring after three pints of lager, as described in his own self-deprecating Twitter bio) – it’s a requisite for the job as singer in the morose doom metal outfit Paradise Lost. In the early 1990s in Yorkshire, Paradise Lost seemingly channeled the lament of long-haired youth who were witnessing their metal greats blundering about aimlessly as grunge invaded the popular consciousness. In comparison, grunge’s flirtation with despondency was piecemeal in comparison to the UK doom scene’s dyed-in-the-wool, consummate romance with bleakness and sorrow.